1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which processes an image obtained by capturing a colored light-transmissive sample, and particularly to classification of tissues included in a body tissue sample.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various attempts have been made up to now to classify tissues included in a dyed biopsy sample.
For example, a pathological image inspection support apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. Publication No. 6-96706 captures an image of a tissue sample after applying a special staining procedure to the tissue sample, and extracts portions which are positive to the special staining procedure and nuclei based on the color information of respective pixels. Further, for example, appearance frequency of derangement cell hyperplastic focuses is analyzed using a result of extracting the portions positive to the special staining procedure. Another result of extracting nuclei is further subjected to morphological analysis, to support recognition of a normal portion and a cancerous portion.
Meanwhile, a pathological diagnosis apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. Publication No. 2001-59842 captures an image of a hematoxylin-eosin-stained pathological sample, and classifies nuclei and cavities (regions including neither nucleus nor cytoplasm). Statistical and morphological analyses are carried out with respect to nuclei and cavities, to obtain characteristic values suitable for supporting pathological diagnoses.